USA U20 captain Spencer Huntley steps up to Eagles squad 14 months before World Cup

Spencer Huntley, captain of the USA U20s at the World Rugby Junior World Championship in Georgia earlier this year, has been named in a 31-man USA XV squad selected by head coach Scott Lawrence for a non-Test match against an Argentina XV — a high-level hit-out assembled 14 months out from Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027.

The scrum-half, still in his early twenties, has made a habit of being the youngest player in the room. Huntley first represented the USA U20s at 17 and pulled on the U23 shirt at just 18, each time determined to prove “there’s a reason why I’m here.” The call from Lawrence, who had just guided the Eagles to a 3-0 unbeaten run in the inaugural World Rugby Nations Cup, arrived shortly after Huntley returned home from the U20 campaign.

“It’s not something every day that you get a message from Scott Lawrence telling you that you’ve been called into camp,” Huntley told RugbyPass. “I got done with the 20s and got home, and then got the message and I was like, ‘oh wow, this is basically what I’ve been working for my whole life. Since I was a little kid, I remember wanting to become an Eagle and eventually play in a World Cup.’”

Huntley is a product of Cathedral Catholic High School and the San Diego Mustangs, whom he captained to the 2025 High School Club Championship as a co-MVP. He has since relocated to England to play for Hartpury University, having been scouted by coach Dan Murphy while starring on tour with the USA U18s.

Despite the move abroad, Huntley has remained central to USA’s age-grade programme, captaining the U20s at their third-ever Junior World Championship appearance, where they faced Argentina, England and Ireland in the pool stage.

The step up to the senior environment brought a new dynamic. Huntley found himself alongside established Eagles — players he had either trained with previously or admired from a distance. “There’s loads of legends, guys that I’ve either had the opportunity to train with or play with before, or guys that are new that I hadn’t really connected with that much,” he said. “But either way, being called into the squad was an amazing opportunity for me.”

Huntley also reflected on how his own role within age-grade squads has shifted over time. “The first 20s stint that I had, I was the youngest on the team. So that experience was a lot different than the U20s that I just had where I was one of the older guys,” he said. “I then have to look at it and approach it differently.”

With Lawrence building toward Rugby World Cup 2027, the inclusion of a player of Huntley’s age in a senior environment signals the coaching staff’s intent to identify and develop the next generation of Eagles well ahead of the tournament.